A federal appeals court has added the Texas law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms to the full court review already announced for a similar law in Louisiana.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, added the review of the Texas law known as S.B. 10 to its docket in a brief procedural order dated Oct. 28.
The decision heightens the stakes in a legal battle that conservative supporters of Ten Commandments laws in schools hope will reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court in 1980 struck down a Kentucky Ten Commandments law that was similar to the Texas and Louisiana ones, but conservatives are looking to changes in the high court’s church-state jurisprudence in recent years, and its more conservative composition suggests that the current court may uphold such requirements.
A federal district judge blocked the Texas law in August, though he limited the injunction to a group of 11 school districts where plaintiffs backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Freedom From Religion Foundation live.
(Those groups filed a separate lawsuit last month on behalf of other plaintiffs, seeking a similar block on the law in 14 additional Texas school districts.)
The Texas attorney general’s office has been defending the districts in the original lawsuit, known as Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District.
The federal judge in that original case ruled that the Texas law “impermissibly takes sides on theological questions and officially favors Christian denominations over others.” The judge also concluded that the Texas law is similar enough to the one in Louisiana that he was bound to follow a 5th circuit panel decision blocking the latter.
The full 5th Circuit announced in early October that it would toss out the panel decision and take a fresh look at the Louisiana law. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had asked the court for reconsideration by all the court’s judges.
“Initial en banc review alongside [the Louisiana case] is particularly justified because this case will sharpen the presentation of the issues,” Paxton said in a court filing. “The record in this case provides vital testimony regarding the history and use of the Ten Commandments in American education and public life, which demonstrates that displaying the Ten Commandments in the classroom is consistent with this nation’s history and tradition.”
The advocacy groups representing the challengers argued against adding the Texas case to the full 5th Circuit review of the Louisiana case, saying that the Texas law should first get a review by a three-judge panel.
A briefing schedule set by the 5th Circuit suggests that the full court will hear arguments over the two Ten Commandments laws sometime early next year.
